Whole Animal Automated Platform for Drug Discovery against Multi-Drug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus, the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections in the United States, is also pathogenic to the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The C. elegans-S. aureus infection model was previously carried out on solid agar plates where the bacteriovorous C. elegans feeds on a lawn of S. aureus. However, agar-based assays are not amenable to large scale screens for antibacterial compounds. We have developed a high throughput liquid screening assay that uses robotic instrumentation to dispense a precise amount of methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and worms in 384-well assay plates, followed by automated microscopy and image analysis. In validation of the liquid assay, an MRSA cell wall defective mutant, MW2ΔtarO, which is attenuated for killing in the agar-based assay, was found to be less virulent in the liquid assay. This robust assay with a Z’-factor consistently greater than 0.5 was utilized to screen the Biomol 4 compound library consisting of 640 small molecules with well characterized bioactivities. As proof of principle, 27 of the 30 clinically used antibiotics present in the library conferred increased C. elegans survival and were identified as hits in the screen. Surprisingly, the antihelminthic drug closantel was also identified as a hit in the screen. In further studies, we confirmed the anti-staphylococcal activity of closantel against vancomycin-resistant S. aureus isolates and other Gram-positive bacteria. The liquid C. elegans – S. aureus assay described here allows screening for anti-staphylococcal compounds that are not toxic to the host

Ice Shapes on a Tail Rotor

Testing of a thermally-protected helicopter rotor in the Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) was completed. Data included inter-cycle and cold blade ice shapes. Accreted ice shapes were thoroughly documented, including tracing, scanning and photographing. This was the first time this scanning capability was used outside of NASA. This type of data has never been obtained for a rotorcraft before. This data will now be used to validate the latest generation of icing analysis tools

Exploring the influence of sensory brand recognition on brand loyalty within the quick service restaurant industry: an analysis of branded food retailers in Kerala

In today\u27s competitive business landscape, organized retail establishments are facing formidable challenges from online counterparts, while fast-food retailers are also facing the pressure. The rise in popularity of online food delivery apps has compelled organized restaurant businesses to swiftly adapt and innovate to thrive in this new business environment. When customers order food through online, the differentiating factor primarily is the taste of the food. However, when customers physically visit a restaurant, their experience is influenced by four additional sensory elements present in the retail outlet: sight, smell, sound, and touch. These sensory elements are intentionally employed by companies to position and distinguish their brand from competitors. This study intends to investigate how these sensory components affect consumers\u27 perceptions of quality, which in turn affect purchase intentions. The study focuses on a selection of internationally recognized retail food outlets, with a significant presence across the globe, that have established locations in three major cities in Kerala: Kochi, Trivandrum, and Kozhikod

An Assessment of Oral Health status and treatment needs of 12 and 15 Years Old School going Children of Fishermen Community residing at East Coast Road, Chennai, Tamilnadu.

BACKGROUND : The present study was conducted to assess the oral health status and treatment needs of 12 and 15 years old school going children of fishermen community residing at East coast road, Chennai. OBJECTIVES: To assess the oral health status and treatment needs of 12 and 15 years old school going children of fishermen community residing at East coast road, Chennai using WHO oral health assessment proforma 1997. METHODOLOGY : A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess the oral health status and treatment needs of 12 and 15 years old 650 School children of fishermen community residing at East coast road, Chennai. Data was collected using a survey proforma which comprised of a questionnaire and WHO Oral Health Surveys – Basic Methods Proforma (1997). The collected data was subjected to statistical analysis. RESULTS : Results showed that 350 children were 12 years old and 300 children were 15 years old. About 419 (64.5%) were satisfied on appearance of their teeth. Majority of the children, 617 (94.9%) used tooth paste and tooth brush to clean their teeth A large percentage of the children, 424 (65.2%) had not visited dentist before. Of those visited, 133 (58.8%) children had visited dentist for Tooth ache. Mean DMFT Value of 12 year old private and Government school children were 2.01 and 2.27 respectively. While Mean DMFT value of 15 year old private and Government school children were 2.28 and 3.15 respectively. Majority of the children, 351 (54%) were in Watch-out zone during sweet score calculation with significant relation to DMFT. Majority of the children, 464 (71.3%) were taking fish more than 3 days in a week with significant relation to DMFT. 172 (26.5%) children had definite malocclusion and needed elective treatment. 30 (4.6%) children had severe malocclusion and treatment is highly desirable. CONCLUSION : The oral health status of fishermen children was poor with high prevalence of periodontal disease and dental caries. Regular oral examinations by dental professionals, dental health education to motivate subjects to receive regular dental check-up and to maintain oral hygiene, adoption by nearby Dental colleges if any and involvement of NGO’S like Rotary Club, Lions Club, IDA will be needed to improve the oral health status of these workers

A Study on Prediction of Outcome in Patients with Primary Intra Cranial Hemorrhage using FUNC Score

BACKGROUND: Intra cerebral hemorrhage (ICH) the most disturbing and least treatable form of stroke, also in addition, it causes severe disability among survivors. Because ICH is considered to be fatal in majority of circumstances, withdrawal of care of such patients commonly occurs early, that cause a situation that can take away a “fighting chance” to those patients whose prognosis may not be as grave as initially judged. Accurate prediction regarding the outcome of the patients presenting with ICH is very important. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study is to determine the Prediction of Outcome in Patients with Primary Intra cranial hemorrhage using FUNC score in Stanley Government Medical College Hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the study period, patients admitted with Intra cranial haemorrhage were performed imaging study. CT scan of brain was taken immediately. Along with that additional imaging studies like Doppler study of carotid arteries, angiogram- CT angiogram, MRI brain with MRA and MRV – plain and contrast were taken. After obtaining all these parameters FUNC score is calculated for all the patients. RESULTS: In the analysis of FUNC scoring, among the expired patients 31 patients(56.4%) belonged to score =8 were alive at the end of 90 days which shows high significance of FUNC scoring (p<0.001) in predicting the outcome. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that FUNC score can be used as a reliable tool in predicting the outcome of patients presenting with primary intracerebral hemorrhage. By using this scale withdrawal of care for patients with predicted good outcome can be prevented and can lead to a reduction in mortality and help them in early mobilisation

White Matter Deterioration May Foreshadow Impairment of Emotional Valence Determination in Early-Stage Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

In Alzheimer Disease (AD), non-verbal skills often remain intact for far longer than verbally mediated processes. Four (1 female, 3 males) participants with early-stage Clinically Diagnosed Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (CDDAT) and eight neurotypicals (NTs; 4 females, 4 males) completed the emotional valence determination test (EVDT) while undergoing BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We expected CDDAT participants to perform just as well as NTs on the EVDT, and to display increased activity within the bilateral amygdala and right anterior cingulate cortex (r-ACC). We hypothesized that such activity would reflect an increased reliance on these structures to compensate for on-going neuronal loss in frontoparietal regions due to the disease. We used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to determine if white matter (WM) damage had occurred in frontoparietal regions as well. CDDAT participants had similar behavioral performance and no differences were observed in brain activity or connectivity patterns within the amygdalae or r-ACC. Decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) values were noted, however, for the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculi and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). We interpret these findings to suggest that emotional valence determination and non-verbal skill sets are largely intact at this stage of the disease, but signs foreshadowing future decline were revealed by possible WM deterioration. Understanding how non-verbal skill sets are altered, while remaining largely intact, offers new insights into how non-verbal communication may be more successfully implemented in the care of AD patients and highlights the potential role of DTI as a presymptomatic biomarker

Multi-objective Optimisation of Multi-robot Task Allocation with Precedence Constraints

Efficacy of the multi-robot systems depends on proper sequencing and optimal allocation of robots to the tasks. Focuses on deciding the optimal allocation of set-of-robots to a set-of-tasks with precedence constraints considering multiple objectives. Taguchi’s design of experiments based parameter tuned genetic algorithm (GA) is developed for generalised task allocation of single-task robots to multi-robot tasks. The developed methodology is tested for 16 scenarios by varying the number of robots and number of tasks. The scenarios were tested in a simulated environment with a maximum of 20 robots and 40 multi-robot foraging tasks. The tradeoff between performance measures for the allocations obtained through GA for different task levels was used to decide the optimal number of robots. It is evident that the tradeoffs occur at 20 per cent of performance measures and the optimal number of robot varies between 10 and 15 for almost all the task levels. This method shows good convergence and found that the precedence constraints affect the optimal number of robots required for a particular task level

An Approach to Improve Multi objective Path Planning for Mobile Robot Navigation using the Novel Quadrant Selection Method

Currently, automated and semi-automated industries need multiple objective path planning algorithms for mobile robot applications. The multi-objective optimisation algorithm takes more computational effort to provide optimal solutions. The proposed grid-based multi-objective global path planning algorithm [Quadrant selection algorithm (QSA)] plans the path by considering the direction of movements from starting position to the target position with minimum computational effort. Primarily, in this algorithm, the direction of movements is classified into quadrants. Based on the selection of the quadrant, the optimal paths are identified. In obstacle avoidance, the generated feasible paths are evaluated by the cumulative path distance travelled, and the cumulative angle turned to attain an optimal path. Finally, to ease the robot’s navigation, the obtained optimal path is further smoothed to avoid sharp turns and reduce the distance. The proposed QSA in total reduces the unnecessary search for paths in other quadrants. The developed algorithm is tested in different environments and compared with the existing algorithms based on the number of cells examined to obtain the optimal path. Unlike other algorithms, the proposed QSA provides an optimal path by dramatically reducing the number of cells examined. The experimental verification of the proposed QSA shows that the solution is practically implementable